Over the weekend, South Australia Police confirmed the heartbreaking news that the search for Gus Lamont was over after finding no trace of the little boy.
Across the initial search earlier this month, and the four-day renewed search conducted last week – police, members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and SES volunteers combed an estimated 470-square kilometres of the 60,000-hectare Oak Park station near Yunta.
“The fact Gus is a small child, the terrain is extremely rugged, harsh and subject to changing weather conditions has made the searching difficult and more challenging for those involved,” SA Police said in a written statement on October 17.
“Each of these factors may have contributed to the lack of evidence discovered. The location also presents less opportunities for police searching for a missing person, compared with a urban environment.”
Criminologist Xanthe Mallett agreed that searching a remote property like Oak Park Station can add complexity to an investigation.
“It’s a very high-profile case, so the police would’ve been asking for public assistance and collating all the information together with anything that was obtainable from cell towers,” she told Woman’s Day.
“In a remote region there’s going to be less electronic information available to them compared to more populated places, but they still would’ve been searching for who was in the area at the time from phone tower data, and would’ve narrowed that down to key search areas.”
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE INVESTIGATION?
With no trace of Gus found to date, SA Police will continue their investigation, and confirmed the devastating news they were now focused on recovering his body in the hopes of bringing closure to his heartbroken family.
“In the initial stages police had hoped to find Gus alive, but sadly the search has become a recovery operation,” SA Police wrote.
“The search for Gus has been one of the largest operations of its type conducted by SA Police and all involved were initially intensely focused on locating him alive, but this shifted to a determination to provide some closure to his family.”
While SA Police haven’t ruled out any further searches for Gus, they have confirmed investigations under Task Force Horizon will be continuing.
LOST LOOKING FOR MUM
Gus was last seen playing by his grandmother Shannon Murray, who was taking care of the boy and his little brother Ronnie, one, on the evening of September 27.
His mum Jessica and grandparent Josie were about ten kilometres away herding their sheep at the time.
Thirty minutes later, Shannon noticed the “shy but adventurous” Gus was missing and spent three hours looking for him before contacting emergency services.
He was last seen wearing a blue T-shirt with a yellow minion on the front.
A close friend of Shannon and Josie suspects he could have wandered off searching for Jessica.
“It’s very easy to get lost on a station that size,” the friend told the Daily Mail.
“Shannon grew up out there and she almost got lost a few years ago. Her and Josie were out on motorbikes sorting out the sheep one afternoon and they got separated for a while. She had to turn off her bike to listen out for Josie’s to find her way back.”
CONDITIONS ON THE GROUND
During the search, police, ADF members and SES volunteers faced temperatures up to 36 degrees-Celsius and “extreme winds” – adding an extra level of difficulty to the mammoth search that covered 470-square kilometres, or a zone 100 times the size of Adelaide’s CBD.
As dozens of ADF vehicles went on in search of Gus, a few struggled reaching parts of the search area.
“On our way in this morning we passed two groups of ADF vehicles that had broken down, one with a flat tyre the other bogged in the sand,” ABC reporter Genevieve Blandin de Chalain reported from the property.
“Once again, these vehicles are navigating increasingly deteriorating dirt tracks, as access to the property becomes a challenge in itself.”
At the conclusion of the latest search, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said he was thinking of Gus’ family during this heartbreaking time.
“We would love to have resolution to this matter, but not any more than the family would themselves,” he said.
“What I am proud of is the way that South Australian Police have thrown everything at this along with other agencies that have assisted, particularly the ADF, but others as well.”
